The Ducati Team rider got off to a good start on the first day of practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend at the Red Bull Ring near Zeltweg.
At the end of the day it was Andrea Dovizioso who headed the provisional timesheets with an unbeaten lap of 1’24.046.
The Italian rider set his quickest time towards the end of the second FP2 free practice session, when the sun came out once again over the Austrian circuit, but even in FP1 in the morning he classified inside the top ten, in second position.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’24.046 (1st)
“I’m very pleased with the way things went today and we couldn’t have had a better start to the weekend. The Ducati Corse engineers have done a really good job with the new fairing, which on this track is working very well, and we have managed to get close to the effect of last year’s winglets, confirming our speed in two different conditions, both this morning and this afternoon, when there wasn’t much grip. But now we have to work on some details because it’s the tyre wear that will make all the difference in the race rather than sheer speed, just like last year.”